Ex-leader of Nicaraguan Contras dies

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Adolfo Calero, who led the largest force of U.S.-backed Contra rebels against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government in the 1980s, has died at age 81.

Calero died Saturday of lung problems in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, his aide Julio Romero confirmed Sunday.

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Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) issued a statement of condolences on Saturday, calling Calero “the symbol of a country struggling to regain its freedom.”

Calero was a key contact with senior U.S. officials during the Iran-Contra affair, when Reagan administration officials secretly arranged the sale of weapons to Iran to finance the Contras, bypassing Congressional restrictions against aid to them.

Calero denied knowing that any funds donated to the rebels had come from the Iranian weapons sales, but acknowledged in 1987 that three former U.S. military officers had helped them buy more than $18 million in military equipment at a time when direct U.S. arms aid was suspended. Another $14 million in donations were used to buy food, clothing and other supplies, he said.

Some of that money was turned into travelers checks and he told congressional investigators that he had given then-White House aide Oliver North about $90,000 of that to help in the liberation of U.S. hostages in Lebanon.

“I used to tell Col. North, frankly, everything. I had no reservation. I had full confidence and trust in him,” Calero testified.

Calero attended the University of Notre Dame in the United States and returned home to enter business. He was head of a Coca Cola bottling operation when the Sandinista rebels, backed by a broad sector of Nicaraguan society, ousted the Somoza family dictatorship in 1979.

When the Sandinistas veered to the left, Calero went into exile in Florida and soon emerged as the political head of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest of the Contra groups that tried to topple the Soviet- and Cuban-backed Sandinista government.

That conflict led to international mediation and the Sandinistas agreed to accept free elections as the Contras disarmed. The vote removed the Sandinistas from power in 1990, though Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega returned to the presidency in 2007. After the Sandinistas left power, Calero returned home and practiced law.

As he was buried Sunday in Managua, relatives showed a photograph of Calero with Ronald Reagan, who had signed it: “For Adolfo Calero. Our fight for justice and democracy in Nicaragua will prevail.”